Florida`s `New-collar` Voters Up For Grabs

May 25, 1986|By William E. Gibson, Washington Bureau Chief

WASHINGTON -- Florida, the leading service industry state in the nation, may be one of the most fertile environments for a thriving class known as ``new collars,`` according to the theorist who coined the phrase.

``Everything I know about the Florida economy leads me to believe there are new-collar workers from Disney World to Key West, from Miami to Pensacola,`` said Ralph Whitehead, a professor of public service at the University of Massachusetts.

Whitehead thinks these new collars are a distinct group of the `80s -- different from their blue-collar parents and the yuppies of their own generation -- and that the political parties would do well to learn how to reach them. His theory has been embraced by many political analysts, especially in the Democratic Party as it gropes for new constituencies and new ways to reach some disaffected former members.

New collars are the middle class of the baby-boom generation, between ages 22 and 40, earning in the South between $12,500 and $35,000 or living in two- paycheck households with incomes of $20,000 to $40,000.

The more ambitious have been called ``would-be`s,`` as in, would like to be Yuppies, a richer class of baby boomers.

``They are the post-industrial working class,`` Whitehead said. ``Many are the sons and daughters of people who did manual work on farms and factories.``

They love fast food and outdoor activity, and rally around Bruce Springsteen as a common cultural idol.

They have an independent and insecure nature full of apparent contradictions -- eager to get ahead, yet intent on their leisure activities; generally spiritual, but not church-goers; believers who don`t belong.

``Matched against blue-collar workers of an earlier generation, they are more open to change, more individualistic, can talk more about their ideas and their feelings,`` Whitehead said. ``They like politicians who have a tough mind, a tender heart and good pair of hands.``

Politically, they are up for grabs. Suspicious of all institutions, new collars tend to avoid traditional party allegiances and the usual conservative or liberal litmus tests on taxes and social programs.

Their issues revolve around day care, retirement security, deficit reduction and new programs that promise to help them get ahead. They are suspicious of big government spending, whether for defense or for welfare.

They don`t vote in primaries, but may appear at the polls in general elections.

``Politicians find it enormously difficult to reach these people face to face, because they don`t turn out to traditional events,`` Whitehead said. ``But they are out there.``

New collars became especially appealing to Democratic strategists after the 1984 presidential election, when young people predominately voted for President Reagan.

Most strategists had been courting the yuppies -- young urban professionals who were supposed to be the leaders of the future. Yet analysts found that yuppies are relatively few in number, perhaps 4 million, while the new collars amount to a whopping 25 million.

Whitehead said the most likely politicians to turn the heads of new collars include Republican Jack Kemp, and Democrats Bruce Babbitt, the Arizona governor; Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey; and Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, ``who can rock on the stump.``

Gary Hart, despite his blow-dried and manipulative image, seems to impress new collars as well as yuppies, Whitehead said.

He said a possible emerging new-collar candidate in Florida could be Steve Pajcic of Jacksonville, Democratic candidate for governor.

Florida, which never went through the rust-belt phase of industrial deterioration, is especially populated with new collars because of its non- industrial economy built around tourism, health care, real estate and small-contract work, Whitehead said.

Paul Hewitt, director of the Americans for Generational Equity, said Florida also may become a rallying place for new collars because of their proximity to ``better off`` senior citizens.

``If one was going to see a movement based on resentment, it might be in Florida,`` Hewitt said. ``Don`t look for it in this election, but by 1988 and definitely by 1992 you`ll see a full-fledged solidarity among new-collar voters.``